Just one day after another Alaskan death was linked to COVID-19, the state sailed past its previous daily case record to report 231 new cases on Sunday among 186 state residents and 45 nonresidents. Of the reported resident cases, 158 occurred in the Anchorage Municipality; 11 in Fairbanks North Star Borough; four in Matanuska-Susitna Borough; two each in Juneau City and Borough, the combined Yakutat and Hoonah-Angoon Census Area and the Wrangell City and Borough; and one each in the Aleutians West Census Area, Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Sitka City and Borough, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Prince of Whales-Hyder Census Area, Kenai Peninsula Borough and Ketchikan Gateway Borough. On Saturday, the state Department of Health and Social Services reported Alaska's 20th death from the disease or complications associated with it. That total includes some who died out of state.  

Several firefighters were overcome while battling a fire in New Jersey that spread to several homes. Four homes were burned and two were destroyed when a fire started in a basement on Passaic Street around 2 p.m. At least nine firefighters were hospitalized and needed assistance after suffering from heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. Another two firefighters suffered injuries from slipping and falling. Several other firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion on the scene but did not need to be transported to the hospital. Officials said the hot, humid weather conditions made fighting the fire very difficult. Firefighters were rotated out every 10 minutes due to the heat. Several other towns responded to assist with the switching out of crews. Firefighters came to the rescue of a woman in a wheelchair from a second-floor window.  

Firefighters in Hingham said they won't comply with an order from the police and fire chiefs to take "thin blue line" flags off firetrucks, and have asked them to reconsider the decision. Fire Chief Steve Murphy and Police Chief Glenn Olsson explained in a letter to personnel that the blue and black flags, which are black-and-white versions of the American flag with a single blue line in the center, will have to be removed from where they've flown atop Hingham fire trucks after a citizen complaint. Murphy and Olsson say the flags are now in violation of a long-standing town policy that forbids displaying any political messaging on town property. The flags were originally purchased to show support to the police department after the 2018 killing of Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna, but have recently "taken a different political meaning," the chiefs said.  

When a large battery used to power a neighborhood in Surprise failed and began smoking last year, firefighters didn't have a response plan for how to deal with the problem, which contributed to an explosion that injured several first responders. That is one of the conclusions of a report released on Monday about the April 2019 explosion at the McMicken Energy Storage facility near Grand Avenue and Deer Valley Road, owned by Arizona Public Service Co. Several other things went wrong and led to the explosion, but the lack of a plan contributed to the injuries because firefighters opened a door on the facility about two hours after arriving on the scene, and two minutes later, the facility exploded. That sent eight firefighters and one police officer to the hospital.  

COVID-19 is continuing to fill U.S. hospital beds. As of July 20, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was over 58,000, or about as high as it was in April, when hospitals in the New York City area were scouring the world for ventilators. Surges in hospitalization rates are now showing up in every state in the South and Southwest other than New Mexico. At least 1 in every 5,000 residents of those states is in the hospital with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, and about 1 in every 2,500 residents of Arizona and Florida is in the hospital with COVID-19, according to state and local public health agency data compiled by The COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. New York state and some other states that were hit hard in March and April started to get new infection rates under control in late April. Those states now have COVID-19 hospitalization rates under 5 per 100,000 residents, meaning that fewer than 1 in 20,000 residents is in the hospital with COVID-19.  

For the last 18 years, family members of 9/11 loved ones have descended on Lower Manhattan in a tradition that is as comforting as it is familiar in its ritual. The names of nearly 3,000 victims read aloud, often with personal messages that have changed over the almost two decades that have passed - heartfelt and sad. "My hero, and my light throughout the darkness that this has caused me," are some of the messages heard in prior ceremonies. But this year, those personal messages will be absent -- as those names will not be read live, by family members, but rather played by recording. In a letter obtained by NY1, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum cites an "abundance of caution" to ensure safety for the families given the coronavirus pandemic. Patricia Reilly lost her sister Lorraine Lee in the attacks.